Over the weekend, Jada Pinkett Smith took to Facebook to write a heartfelt reflection on the death of her friend Tupac.
“In this picture I’m flanked by two extremely close friends…Tupac and Maxine. They both died tragically,” Pinkett Smith wrote beneath an image of herself, Tupac and other friends. In her reflection, the 43-year-old actress opened up about being raised in a neighborhood where violence was so rampant she referred to it as ”genocide”. “Half of my life was surviving a war zone,” she wrote.
“There was a time all that loss felt like the norm; today it felt unnatural, strange, downright wrong.”
Pinkett Smith admits she too feels helpless when it comes to naming solutions for the dangers that takes place in neighborhoods across the U.S. In light of the recent shooting deaths of Michael Brown, Jordan Davis and others, Pinkett Smith’s post resonates with many who are affected by gun violence. She emphasizes that her gratitude for being a survivor has allowed her to cope.
“I’m grateful for what I have survived…Grateful I didn’t become a statistic like I often thought I would. Grateful that my own children don’t have to confront the loss and violence in their neighborhood in the way their parents had to.”
How do you cope with violence and loss?